Spa for the people

Following the success of the first Tranquillity Spa, sauna and steam specialist Dalesauna has designed a second luxury spa for Northumberland

Gerard McCarthy

Local people in Cramlington, Northumberland, UK, now have access to the latest wellness facilities after the launch of a new spa at one of the region’s largest leisure centres.

Sauna and steam specialist Dalesauna designed and delivered the new Tranquillity Spa at the Concordia Leisure Centre, which is undergoing a major refurbishment.

Northumberland County Council and Active Northumberland – the charitable leisure and cultural trust which operates leisure facilities on behalf of the council – have invested £3.1m in Concordia Leisure Centre to modernise facilities and bring new family entertainment and activities into the town centre.

As part of the redevelopment, the centre has also received a new climbing facility, a dedicated cycling studio, a new fitness studio and a revamped café, while the Cramlington Library is also being relocated to the leisure centre.

Working with Northumberland County Council and Robertson Construction, Dalesauna has created a luxurious new spa for the centre, hosting a range of heat experiences designed to promote health and wellbeing among all members of the surrounding community.

Formerly home to a disused sauna, the centre now offers a full spa which includes a steamroom as well as an aromatherapy room, where the gentle warmth of steam is infused with natural aromatherapy essences to relax the mind and body.

The 3-metre circular spa bath is ideal for boosting circulation, making it suitable for those with arthritis or suffering joint pain. It’s also an effective way to treat sore muscles after a workout.

The three-person tiled foot spa with heated bench, ice feature and monsoon and bucket showers complete the offer, creating a calm and relaxing environment for users to enjoy.

Ongoing success story
The project follows the success of the Tranquillity Spa at Ashington Leisure Centre, which opened at the beginning of this year. The £21m centre was awarded the RIBA North East Award this spring, and its Tranquillity Spa was also designed and delivered by Dalesauna.

Hailed as a sanctuary to escape the pressures of everyday life, the spa at Ashington features a spa pool, aromatherapy room, monsoon showers, ice feature and foot spas in addition to manicure and pedicure bays and three treatment rooms offering a variety of treatments to suit all budgets.

The range of facilities has proved a huge hit with locals, with more than 1,600 visits recorded to the thermal experiences within the first four weeks of opening.

Active Northumberland has created a Thermal Spa Experience around the new Dalesauna facilities, which offers users a journey of relaxation through the different hot and cold therapies.

“We’re delighted to have completed another Tranquillity Spa. The quality of facilities is extremely high, demonstrating once again how public sector spas can compete with, and even exceed the standards of, spas in the private sector,” says Gerard McCarthy, sales director at Dalesauna.

www.dalesauna.co.uk

"The quality is extremely high, demonstrating how public sector spas can compete with, and even exceed the standards of, spas in the private sector" – Gerard McCarthy

Facilities at Tranquillity Spa include a circular spa bath and aromatherapy room

Driving sustainability

Faced with growing competition in the local area, Circadian Trust teamed up with direct debit specialist Debit Finance Collections to boost its community presence

Ben Beasley

A social enterprise committed to wellbeing within the community, Circadian Trust operates five leisure centres and two dual-use sports centres across south Gloucester.

At the time of Circadian’s 10th anniversary last year, it had an average customer stay of seven to eight months under a flexible membership, while at the same time there was a proliferation of competitive budget gyms it the area. The trust was looking for new ways to boost membership and compete in the marketplace. It turned to direct debit company DFC, which focuses particular attention on the leisure industry, to achieve this goal in partnership.

Exceeding targets
Since working in synergy with DFC, Circadian has been able to introduce a new membership package to promote the benefits of using its centres. The new Lifestyle Membership grants customers 12-month access across the operator’s seven sites, thereby providing greater choice than the local budget gyms are able to offer.

“DFC made the transition really easy for us,” says Ben Beasley, Circadian’s director of commercial development. “We’ve been able to offer the customer more membership package choices, and are better positioned as a fantastic value offering in an ever-changing marketplace.

“The new 12-month membership is now available for up to £29.95 a month, whereas our flexible membership is £38.95. The increased membership length counteracts the lower yield from each member, so both we and the customer benefit.”

Boasting a 98 per cent collection rate with the trust, DFC has been able to take away the chore of lengthy admin tasks, allowing Circadian to spend more time on improving its facilities for its customers.

The partnership has also driven growth. Circadian had set an 8 per cent growth rate goal over four years, but DFC helped the trust to bring this goal up to 10 per cent within the first year – the result being a 16 per cent rise in memberships since the previous year and a drop in attrition. “It’s one of the biggest growths we’ve seen since the trust was formed in 2005,” confirms Beasley.

Technological drive
“DFC is constantly innovating and bringing new products to market,” continues Beasley: the trust has used services such as FastDD, which allows members to join online, and Data Retrieval, which helps businesses keep track of their payment records.

“We’ve benefited from an improved service where we’re not worried about collection, with access to more accurate and flexible reporting and statistics, helping us tidy up our processes. We can receive these reports on a daily basis if we want.

“We’re now discussing opportunities that might assist us in becoming even more commercial in our approach.

“The whole solution provided by DFC has been easily and efficiently integrated with our current Xn system, and we’re very happy with the impact our payment portal has had on our business.”

Having improved its overall service and made positive adjustments internally, Circadian is now looking to the future and has little doubt that it will continue to exceed all its targets.

“We expect to continue our positive trend, and are looking forward to working with DFC to use its new products,” concludes Beasley.

www.debitfinance.co.uk

"We have access to more accurate and flexible reporting and statistics, helping us tidy up our processes" – Ben Beasley

The new Lifestyle Membership enables customer access to all seven Circadian sites

Healthy competition

Installed across the Speedflex business, heart rate monitoring system MYZONE is integrated into every high intensity circuit session and now plays a key role in the group’s retention strategy

Tommy Wanless

An alternative to the gym or a bootcamp, Speedflex offers high intensity circuit training sessions for small groups, led by a PT. The concept was developed in Newcastle after Graham Wylie acquired the world rights in 2010.

Speedflex now has a number of sites in the UK – including London, Leeds, Aberdeenshire, Surrey and Southampton – as well as overseas in markets such as Dubai and Dallas, US. There are approximately 2,500 members across the network, in addition to users paying for short-term sessions and package options.

The concept uses a combination of cardiovascular and resistance training to provide a full-body workout. The Speedflex machines respond to the force of users, allowing a professional athlete to work out alongside a pensioner. Sessions are high in intensity, low in impact and short in duration.

Free trial
MYZONE has become integral to every Speedflex session since being installed across the business (except Dallas) in January of this year.

“We were really impressed with the speed and smoothness of the MYZONE system and the live feedback you get with the product. It’s very easy for both trainers and customers to use,” says Tommy Wanless, Speedflex training manager.

“Our bread and butter is high intensity interval training. Being able to show that’s exactly what we’re delivering, in real time in the studio, is a really powerful and motivational tool.”

Customers can trial MYZONE for free during the Speedflex trial and introductory packages. Those who become members or take up a package can purchase MYZONE for use in the studios.

“To date, 90 per cent of Speedflex users have taken up MYZONE after they’ve experienced the benefits of having access to that level of data, both during and after a training session,” says Wanless.

Creating a buzz
The MYZONE app has proved an additional bonus, creating a buzz around all Speedflex centres and leading to some healthy rivalry between customers.

“Customers love the post-session feedback that MYZONE provides. The social and community aspect of the system means people have a very positive association with it, sharing their session summaries on social media and engaging with one another, which is great for us,” says Wanless.

Speedflex has now started to incorporate MYZONE into its retention marketing strategy by creating in-centre competitions and prize draws for customers who exceed a specific number of MEPs (MYZONE Effort Points) in a given timeframe. The organisation will further integrate MYZONE into its operations later this year and will also use the system in its annual Speedflexathon challenge.

“MYZONE is very important to us. It levels the playing field of exercise for users, which is something Speedflex also does with the inclusivity of our sessions. The uniqueness of Speedflex machines means users work at their own pace, in the same way that MYZONE rewards people for working at their own pace,” says Wanless.

“We also like being able to integrate heart rate monitoring into our customers’ lifestyles, allowing them to use their monitors both in and outside of our studios, promoting a change in behaviour.”

www.myzone.org

www.speedflex.com

"90 per cent of Speedflex users have taken up MYZONE after experiencing the benefits of having access to that level of data" – Tommy Wanless

Speedflex and MYZONE enable users to work at their own pace